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Skeleton Grammar HINDI SKELETON GRAMMAR Rupert Snell HINDI URDU FLAGSHIP, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN [email protected] The essential grammatical ‘rule’ and/or paradigm from each main section of Teach Yourself Hindi (units 1–14) is set out in very briefly here in note form. 1.1 PERSONAL PRONOUNS & THE VERB ‘TO BE’ [hona] mE# hUÅ ma∞ h I am hm hE# ham ha∞ we are tU hE tË hai you are tum ho tum ho you are yh hE yah hai he/she/it/this is åap hE# åp ha∞ you are vh hE yah hai he/she/it/that is ye hE# ye ha∞ he/she/these/they are ve hE# ve ha∞ he/she/those/they are 1.2 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Questions that expect a ‘yes/no’ answer are formed by prefixing ˚ya kyå to a statement: vh ram hE ≥ vah Råm hai. He is Råm. ˚ya vh ram hE ? kyå vah Råm hai? Is he Råm? 1.3 NOUNS Masculine nouns ending in -å change to -e in the plural: kamrå > kamre. Other masculine nouns, and råjå, pitå, cåcå, netå, do not change in the plural. Feminine nouns ending in -i or -¥ change to -iy∆ in the plural: be†¥ > be†iy∆. Other feminine nouns add -¢ in the plural: mez > mez¢. 1.4 ADJECTIVES Adjectives ending in -å change to -e in the masculine plural: ba®å > ba®e; and to -¥ in the feminine (singular and plural): ba®¥. Adjectives not ending in -å (e.g. såf, kh ål¥ ) do not change with number or gender. 1 HINDI SKELETON GRAMMAR 1.5 THE SIMPLE SENTENCE Standard word-order follows the patterns shown: yh mkan Coqa (nhI#) hE ≥ yah makån cho†å (nahÇ) hai. This house is (not) small. yh Coqa mkan (nhI#) hE ≥ yah cho†å makån (nahÇ) hai. This is (not) a small house. 2.1 INTERROGATIVE WORDS ˚ya kyå what? kOn kaun who? kEsa/kEse/kEsI kaiså/kaise/kais¥ what kind of? what like? iktna/iktne/iktnI kitnå/kitne/kitn¥ how much, how many? The function of kyå here is different from that shown in 1.2 above. 2.2 AGREEMENT OF ADJECTIVES WITH MIXED GENDERS When referring to a mixed group of males and females, adjectives show masculine gender: ye lÂ\kw åOr lÂ\ikyaÅ lµbe hE# ≥ ye la®ke aur la®kiy∆ lambe ha∞. These boys and girls are tall. When referring to mixed inanimate objects, adjectives take the gender of the nearest noun: ye jUte åOr cπple# sßtI hE# ≥ ye jËte aur cappal¢ sast¥ ha∞. These shoes and sandals are cheap. 2.3 SOME CONVERSATIONAL FEATURES The Hindi politeness code uses the åp/tum/tË system to express degrees of familiarity (see 2.4). The honorific j¥ can be added to titles and names: paˆ∂it j¥, Íarmå j¥, Kamlå j¥. The word namaste is an all-purpose greeting and leave-taking; namaskår is a synonym. The word bh¥ ‘also’ comes immediately after the word it emphasises. 2.4 MORE ON ADJECTIVES AND NOUNS The ‘honorific’ system of Hindi shows a progression of formality or politeness in the pronoun sequence tË (intimate) tum (familiar) åp (formal). Both tum and åp are grammatically plural. The use of an honorific plural is maintained in the third person also: thus tum, åp, ve and ye can all refer either to an individual or to a group. Adjectives, verbs and masculine nouns agree accordingly; but feminine nouns do not show an honorific plural. 2 HINDI SKELETON GRAMMAR ve ih~dußtanI hE# ≥ ve hindustån¥ ha∞. He/she is Indian / They are Indian. åap kEse hE# ? åp kaise ha∞? How are you? tum åçCe beqe ho ≥ tum acche be†e ho. You are a good son / good sons. ve lMbI mihla kOn hE# ? ve lamb¥ mahilå kaun ha∞? Who is that tall lady? 3.1 SIMPLE POSTPOSITIONS Postpositions are equivalent to English prepositions: m¢ ‘in’, par ‘on’, tak ‘up to’, se ‘by/with/from’, ko ‘to/at’. But being postpositions, they follow the words they govern. 3.2 NOUNS WITH POSTPOSITIONS A noun changes from direct to oblique case when governed by a postposition. Masculine nouns ending in -å change to -e in the oblique singular, and to -õ in the oblique plural: kamrå > kamre m¢, kamrõ m¢. Other masculine nouns, and all feminine nouns, are unchanged in the oblique singular, but have -õ in the oblique plural: makån > makån m¢, makånõ m¢. Nouns ending Ë shorten this to u in the oblique plural: hindË > hinduõ. Nouns ending ¥ change this to iy in the oblique plural: ådm¥ > ådmiyõ. 3.3 ADJECTIVES IN THE OBLIQUE CASE The grammatical case (i.e. direct or oblique) of an adjective agrees with the noun it qualifies. But the only adjectives to show this change are masculine adjectives in -å; these change to -e in the oblique, whether singular or plural: ba®å > ba®e. 3.4 PRONOUNS IN THE OBLIQUE CASE Pronouns also have oblique forms: yah > is; vah > us; ye > in; ve > un. yh bÂ\a mkan yah ba®å makån this big house > ^s bÂ\e mkan me# is ba®e makån m¢ in this big house ve bUÂ|e log ve bË®he log those old people > ¨n bUÂ|e logo# ko un bË®he logõ ko to those old people 3 HINDI SKELETON GRAMMAR 4.1 ‘WAS’ & ‘WERE’ The past tense of the verb hona honå ‘to be’: masculine singular Ta thå masculine plural Te the feminine singular TI th¥ feminine plural TI# thÇ 4.2 to to; ‘SO’, ‘AS FOR’ Firstly, to is a conjunction meaning ‘so’: to åap åÅÄe¿j hE# ? to åp ãgrez ha∞? ‘So you’re English?’ In a second meaning, to highlights one thing as contrasted with an implied alternative: kmra to QIk hE ≥ kamrå to †h¥k hai. The room’s OK [but the food’s terrible]. kmra QIk to hE ≥ kamrå †h¥k to hai. The room’s OK [but it’s not that great]. 4.3 COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES Comparisons are made by using ordinary adjectives (there are no ‘-er, -est’ forms), together with the postposition se se ‘than’. The object of comparison takes se se : ram sIta se lMba hE ≥ Råm S¥tå se lambå hai. Råm is taller than Sitå. sIta ram se CoqI hE ≥ S¥tå Råm se cho†¥ hai. Sita is smaller (shorter) than Råm. Superlatives are expressed with sabse: ram sbse lMba hE ≥ Råm sabse lambå hai. Råm is (the) tallest. Other expressions: aur (or zyådå) ‘more’, kam ‘less’: yh iktab åOr/¿∆yada mhÅgI hE ≥ Yah kitåb aur/zyådå mahãg¥ hai. This book is more expensive. yh iktab km mhÅgI hE ≥ Yah kitåb kam mahãg¥ hai. This book is less expensive. 4.4 SOME CONSTRUCTIONS WITH ko ko Whereas English has the ‘self’ as subject in sentences such as ‘I like Hindi’, ‘I have a cold’, in Hindi the ‘thing possessed or experienced’ often becomes the grammatical subject, and the ‘experiencer’ takes ko ko: ¨sko ¿jukam hE ≥ usko zukåm hai ‘To him/her a cold is’ = He/she has a cold. hmko malUm hE ≥ hamko målËm hai ‘To us it is known’ = We know. muJko ih~dI psMd hE ≥ mujhko hind¥ pasand hai ‘To me Hindi is pleasing’ = I like Hindi. 4 HINDI SKELETON GRAMMAR 4.5 THE VOCATIVE CASE The vocative (the case for addressing someone) is the same as the oblique, except that the plural ending is not nasalised (-o not -õ ): be†e ‘son!’; dosto ‘friends!’. 5.1 THE INFINITIVE VERB The infinitive verb (e.g. ‘to speak’ in English) consists of stem + infinitive ending -na : bolna ‘to speak’ has stem bol + ending -na. 5.2 COMMANDS AND REQUESTS Infinitive tU tum åap bEQna bEQ bEQo bEiQ´ jana ja jaåo ja^´ krna kr kro kIij´ dena de do dIij´ Important irregular verbs include krna, dena, lena, pIna — see p. 64. Negative commands (i.e. ‘do not…’) use n or mt — vhaÅ n bEiQ´, å˜Äe¿jI mt bolo. An infinitive used as an imperative often relates to a future occasion — ram se nmßte khna. 5.3 POSSESSION WITH ka The postposition ka/kI/kw acts like the English “apostophe s”, standing between the possessor and the possessed: ram ka nam ‘Ram’s name’, or ‘the name of Ram’. ka is a postposition, so requires preceding oblique case (l¿\kw); it also agrees as an adjective with the thing possessed: l¿\kw kI bihn the boy’s sister mere BaÈ kI cabI my brother’s key merI bihn ka nam my sister’s name étap kw doßt Pratap’s friends 5 HINDI SKELETON GRAMMAR 5.4 ko WITH THE INDIRECT AND DIRECT OBJECT a) with indirect objects: ram ko pEsa dIij´ (‘ram’ indirect object; ‘pEsa’ direct object). b) with direct objects perceived as ‘specific’, especially a person: ram ko bulaåo ‘call Ram’; ^s cabI ko riK´ ‘keep this key’. In many contexts, ko is optional: yh p§ p¿|o, or ^s p§ ko p¿|o. 5.5 ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF THE OBLIQUE PRONOUNS + ko. These are straightforward alternatives with no further grammatical implications: muJe = muJko etc. Learn the list, p. 68. 6.1 THE IMPERFECTIVE PRESENT TENSE The tense for habitual or regular action, ‘I speak’ (as opposed to continuous ‘I am speaking’, which comes in Unit 8.) It consists of imperfective participle (stem + ta, e.g. bol + ta = bolta) plus auxiliary (hUÅ, hE etc.). mE# ih~dI bolta hUÅ I speak Hindi. lÂ\ikyaÅ ßk&l jatI hE# The girls go to school. hm Bart me# rhte Te We lived (used to live) in India. Masculine gender prevails in a mixed group of people — ram åOr sIta BI vhaÅ rhte Te.
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